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Initially we assessed self-rated cognitive deficits, depression and quality of life in MS patients and healthy controls (n = 299) by an online survey. Secondly, attention performance of MS outpatients (n = 33) was objectively assessed by the Test battery for Attention Performance and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Overall, MS patients rated themselves significantly worse than controls in attentional functioning. This was reflected by a weak performance in objective tests of phasic alertness and divided attention of the MS patients compared to normative data. Subscales of subjective cognitive functioning in the online survey showed significant associations with objective measures after statistical controlling for depression (r = .370 to r = .517). Results show the differences in perceived cognitive performance betweenMSpatients and healthy controls, and self-reported instrument are able to provide relevant information on complex attention performance and hereby on everyday functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since watching TV represents a considerable constituent of children's waking-life, TV content should hence have a great influence on dream content. The present study in children (N = 3167) clearly indicates that most children stated that watching TV affect their dreams. Whereas the amount of TV watching is weakly associated with nightmare frequency, the children who incorporate TV contents into their dreams have more nightmares. This is most likely explained by emotional intensity experienced while watching TV and/or personality traits. Carefully designed studies eliciting TV content, emotional response to TV watching, and personality traits are necessary to better understand the effect of TV consumption on dreaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In numerous psychological experiments, participants classify stimuli by pressing response keys. According to Lakens, Schneider, Jostmann, and Schubert (2011), classification performance is affected by physical distance between response keys – indicating a cognitive tendency to represent categories in spatial code. However, previous evidence for a key distance effect (KDE) from a color-naming Stroop task is inconclusive as to whether: (a) key separation automatically leads to an internal spatial representation of non-spatial stimulus characteristics in participants, or if the KDE rather depends on physical spatial characteristics of the stimulus configuration; (b) the KDE attenuates the Stroop interference effect. We therefore first adopted the original Stroop task in Experiment 1, confirming that wider key distance facilitated responses, but did not modulate the Stroop effect as was previously found. In Experiments 2 and 3 we controlled potential mediator variables in the original design. When we did not display instructions about stimulus-response mappings, thereby removing the unintended spatial context from the Stroop stimuli, no KDE emerged. Presenting the instructions at a central position in Experiment 4 confirmed that key separation alone is not sufficient for a KDE, but correspondence between spatial configurations of stimuli and responses is also necessary. Evidence indicates that the KDE on Stroop performance is due to known mechanisms of stimulus-response compatibility and response discriminability. The KDE does, however, not demonstrate a general disposition to represent any stimulus in spatial code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]